Sens GM Staios unimpressed by Yakemchuk's Team Canada WJC snub
Published
The Ottawa Senators made it clear Tuesday the team was surprised to see defenceman Carter Yakemchuk left off of Team Canada's 32-player selection camp roster for the World Juniors.
Hockey Canada revealed the camp roster on Monday with Yakemchuk, who was selected seventh overall in this year's draft by the Senators, not among the 10 defenceman named.
“We understand these are difficult decisions to make and worthy players often don’t make the cut," Senators general manager Steve Staios said, per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. "However, it was peculiar that four players selected inside the top nine of this year’s NHL draft were omitted from the camp roster.
"In our view, Carter is having a tremendous season and his ability to thrive under pressure is something we feel Team Canada could have benefited from in a high-stakes tournament.”
Garrioch adds that Senators head coach Travis Green said he was “surprised” there are “10 better defencemen” in Canada than Yakemchuk, based on what he saw of the 19-year-old in training camp.
Yakemchuk has nine goals and 23 points in 20 games with the WHL's Calgary Hitmen this season. He had 30 goals and 71 points in 66 games last season.
In addition to Yakemchuk fellow top-10 picks from June's draft, Macklin Celebrini (first overall, San Jose Sharks), Beckett Sennecke (No. 3, Anaheim Ducks), Cayden Lindstrom (No. 4, Columbus Blue Jackets), Tij Iginla (No. 6, Utah Hockey Club), and Zayne Parekh (No. 9, Calgary Flames) were not named to the selection camp roster.
Canada's kicks off their World Juniors schedule on Boxing Day against Finland.